&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "EU sanctions IRGC Navy unit, 2 Iranians over crippling Strait of Hormuz blockade")
The European Union on Monday announced that it has imposed sanctions on a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two Iranians for restricting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil flows.
It is the first time that the European bloc has used new powers to sanction Iran for restricting freedom of navigation.
The EU said in a statement that it has added the Hormozgan Provincial Command of the IRGC Navy to its sanctions list, as well as Mohammad Akbarzadeh and Hamid Hosseini.
Akbarzadeh is deputy commander for political affairs of the IRGC Navy, while Hosseini is a representative of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, it said.
“Today the 27 member states approved sanctions against part of the IRGC Navy that it says is enforcing this tollbooth system, as well as two Iranian officials,” the Council of the EU said in a statement.
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“Tehran actively, effectively closed the Strait, and its drones continue to threaten the maritime traffic,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said while addressing a news conference held as part of an EU defence ministers meeting in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus.
“Ministers were clear today that Iran’s actions are unacceptable. They sanctioned the IRGCN’s Hormozgan Provincial Command, as well as Mohammad Akbarzadeh, the navy’s deputy commander for political affairs, and Hamid Hosseini, a representative of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Exporters Union,” Kallas added.
They will have their assets frozen, be hit with travel bans, and providing them funds or economic resources is prohibited.
Iran squeezed the vital waterway in reaction to the Israeli-American strikes launched in late February, and recently imposed a toll system for any ship wanting to pass through.
Kaja Kallas urges all clashing sides to come to negotiating table
The Middle East is “stuck in phases of peace talks and fragile ceasefires,” the EU’s top foreign policy official said on Monday after Iran and Israel traded strikes in a fresh flare-up of violence since the April truce came into effect.
The EU foreign policy chief said there will be a “tremendous cost” for the entire region if the conflict returns to a full-scale war.
“All sides must come back to the negotiation table,” she added.
Overnight, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also called on Iran and Israel to “show restraint and de-escalate immediately.”
“The resumption of conflict between Iran and Israel is in no one’s interest,” Cooper posted on X.
“Negotiations must continue towards the lasting settlement that we all need, for peace and stability in the region, and for the full restoration of global trade,” she added.
